


Stars and Night and Birds

by Ias



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Character Study, Episode: s03e10 Dream a Little Dream, F/M, Ficlet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-11
Updated: 2013-04-11
Packaged: 2017-12-08 04:00:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/756808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ias/pseuds/Ias
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean knows he's dreaming this time, and somehow that makes it harder. An alternate to what might have happened if Dean had seen Jo instead of Lisa in 3.10</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stars and Night and Birds

First, there’s the music. Those sad, crooning notes seeming to come from far away and the inside of his head at the same time. The lyrics are so cutely appropriate that Dean should hate them immediately, but instead his stomach clenches into a knot.

A light appears out of the darkness. It’s a spotlight, Dean can’t help but think. Just like the ones they have on film sets. Maybe it’s the dream logic kicking in, but that detail seems important. It’s possible he’s trying to ignore the person it’s illuminating.

“Hey.” Blonde hair, dark eyes, dimpled smile. Dean remembers Jo Harvelle’s face well. It’s been since Duluth that he’s seen her face, back when the demon wearing his brother nearly carved her throat open. 

The grass and leaves around her seem to shift and whisper in a wind Dean can’t feel, and he can smell the rain coming. Her jacket is tossed down as a buffer between her and the grass, a duffel bag slung at her side with the cold glint of a sawed-off visible inside. She’s wearing a dress, a white number with flower designs sewn on. It’s nice. It makes Dean’s gut twist tighter. He’s never seen her in anything but jeans and t-shirts before. And in this world of weird that probably shouldn’t stand out, but it buzzes in the back of Dean’s head like static. _Not real. Remember this isn’t real._

Jo’s smile falters as Dean stands his ground. “Well don’t just stand there.” She digs into the duffel and offers him a beer. “Beer’s getting warm, and we’ll have to hit the road soon. Got a new case up in Omaha, and it might just be zombies. Always wanted it to be zombies.” 

Dean would smile at that, except that he’s suddenly and keenly aware of Sam’s presence at his back. He glances behind him and makes eye contact with a gap in the trees behind Sam’s head. 

“I’ve never had this dream before.” He doesn’t need to see his brother’s face to know what’s on it, that damn look of concern like it’s any of Sam’s business what Dean sees when he sleeps. If there’s any pity there, he can’t stand to see it. “Stop looking at me like that.” He can’t quite keep the edge of panic out of his voice this time. Suddenly he wishes more than anything that he was alone, that he could hoard this moment for himself. At the same, time he’s terrified of what might happen without someone there. After all, he knows what comes next. 

“Dean…” Jo’s face seems to fall, just a little bit, the rest of her sentence trailing off into a void. He hates the fact that Jo is hunting even in his dreams. This is his fantasy. Shouldn’t it be something that he actually wants? Or is Jo so damn stubborn that even a copy of her won’t lay down the salt and lighter fluid? That definitely sounded like her. 

Her brown eyes stay trained on him, searching for something. “Aren’t you coming?” Those three words, accusing, demanding, yet still so plaintive. Of course, he wants to say. Go home is another candidate. He’s never sure which answer to give her. This time is no different. 

The light dies, taking Jo and her brown eyes and her sawed-off along with it. There’s nothing but Sam and the dark woods, and the fading memory of those words winding through his head. He wishes he could explain away the bone-deep sadness that settles in with them. But as always, there’s no easy answer there either.

_But in your dreams, whatever they be  
Dream a little dream of me…_


End file.
